As printing technology advances, paper manufacturers are faced with the increasingly rigorous demands of their customers for high quality paper that is economically attractive. For example, there is a great demand for paper of high enough quality to be suitable for printing of a digital image with an ink-jet printer where the look and durability of the product approaches that of a laser printer. Thus, there is a keen demand for papers that meet high quality standards with respect to brightness, opacity, and dry and/or wet strength, and that, upon printing with any of a wide range of colorants, provide a water-resistant and vivid printed image. Customers further demand that such papers be amenable to use with a variety of printing techniques, including not only conventional printing techniques, but also “impact free” printing techniques such as inkjet printing (particularly colored inkjet printing), laser printing, photocopying, and the like.
Current issues with thermal ink-jet printing and the media it is printed on include waterfastness and dripfastness. Most papers that are printed with thermal ink-jet inks do not effectively bind with the dyes. Upon exposure to aqueous solutions (e.g., water), the ink is resolubilized creating a page attribute defect such as smear which destroys the print quality. Another issue with thermal ink-jet printing is optical density. In order to achieve black optical density or color saturation, a large amount of the dye/pigment have to be used. Most dyes/pigments penetrate into the paper and do not stay on the surface. An approach to keep the dyes/pigment on the surface of the paper would greatly enhance optical density and ultimately, reduce the amount of dyes/pigment used in thermal ink-jet printing. This could effectively reduce the cost per page to print.